Recently, I interviewed Bronte May, and we talked about how she overcame thyroid autoimmunity, the complexities of thyroid healing, the need for a holistic approach, the importance of self-advocacy, the controversial role of iodine, and more. If you would prefer to listen to the interview you can access it by Clicking Here.
Dr. Eric Osansky:
I am pleased to have Bronte May on today’s episode, talking about common oversights when healing, including talking about emotional healing. It’s going to be a great conversation.
Let me go ahead and give Bronte’s impressive bio here: Bronte May is a naturopath with a passion for thyroid health. She knows firsthand the multi-layered journey to heal from a thyroid autoimmune condition, having personally dealt with and healed from Graves’. She understands how healing the emotional aspects of the disease can unlock deeper healing, and how mindset coaching can support this often challenging journey.
Interweaving a variety of modalities from her toolkit, Bronte facilitates healing on a cellular and soul level to create space for self-healing. Bronte also offers an individualized 12-week one-on-one thyroid healing program and a 10-week group program, where she guides you through steps and tools that worked for herself and her numerous thyroid clients. Her programs are life-changing. Thank you so much for joining us, Bronte.
Bronte May:
Thank you so much for having me here.
Dr. Eric:
This is going to be great. Very excited to chat with you. Before we get into the common oversights, definitely want to dive into your background. I gave it away a little bit in the bio, but we’ll have you expand on your journey a little bit. How are you doing what you do right now?
Bronte:
Sure. Quite a few years ago now, I was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism. Knowing what I know now as a thyroid naturopath, I was misdiagnosed. I had high antibodies, and they were not really spoken about. I even pointed them out to my GP, and she said, “Don’t worry about those.”
Fast forward to three years after that original diagnosis. I had a relapse, and I was very sick, not knowing it was my thyroid again until I did further testing. They sent me to an endocrinologist, and I was diagnosed with Graves’.
From that point, they gave me some treatment options, which sounded very scary to me and nothing that I wanted to choose: having my thyroid taken out or radioactive iodine. They spoke about the risks of staying on carbimazole long-term. That felt very scary for me. No one explained to me what the thyroid was, where it was, what it did, how important it was. I was sent off and told I had six weeks to make a decision.
In that six weeks, I reached out to a friend who was in the medical industry. We spoke about changing my diet. When I went back to the endocrinologist six weeks later, they asked what I decided. I said, “Well, I’ve decided to create my own fourth option” because I didn’t like the three options they presented. They asked what I meant. I said, “I’m going to heal myself with food.” They told me I was crazy.
Fast forward, that really helped. I got my antibodies down by changing up my diet. With a thyroid autoimmune journey, it’s not just about your diet. That’s so much more. That’s what I discovered.
Through that journey, I became very passionate about health. That’s what led me to become a naturopath and teach other women what I have done myself.
I see it as negligence, that the medical industry is not looking at the whole person. No one said to me, and I hear this from countless patients as well, “What is your lifestyle like? How are you feeling? How are you sleeping? What are your stress levels like?” They are not asking about your toxins or any digestive issues or anything like that. They are not unpacking what’s going on in your emotional body. They’re not asking anything about your mindset. All of these things matter.
That’s what I’m passionate about in guiding my clients and teaching them about the different aspects and the self-empowerment piece as well, how to advocate for yourself.
Dr. Eric:
Same here. In the United States, I wish I could say endocrinologists were more open-minded, but it sounds like they’re the same way. They’re dismissive of diet and lifestyle playing a role in the development of conditions such as Graves’ and Hashimoto’s. Pretty much when it comes to hyperthyroidism, they give the three options: antithyroid medication, radioactive iodine, or thyroid surgery. Sounds like pretty similar in Australia. Not too many natural endocrinologists.
Bronte:
We hear it so much here. “Don’t worry about changing diet; it won’t do anything for your thyroid.” Your options are medication or removal essentially. Shutting down your thyroid with radioactive iodine. Even when I went back and my antibodies went down, they weren’t curious to ask what I did. “Ah, it’s just luck.” I was like, okay.
I hear that from my patients as well. People who are inquiring to work with me, my endocrinologist or GP said that changing my diet won’t change anything. “How can I get off medication? How can I heal my thyroid? Is it actually possible?” I get that question all the time: Is it possible? Yeah, it’s so possible. So many people do it. You’re helping countless people do the same thing as well.
Dr. Eric:
Obviously, we both agree. We both have experienced it ourselves and have helped many people. I would say with endocrinologists, I could understand that’s just how they’re trained. I would like to think if I was an endocrinologist, even if I was a little bit closed-minded, I would think I’d say, “I’m not sure if diet would help, but you can always give it a try. It’s never going to hurt. If anything, it will help to clean up your diet.” They don’t even say that. They’re very dismissive, saying, “No, diet won’t help at all. These are the only three options.” It’s very discouraging. I don’t see it changing anytime soon.
Bronte:
The majority of them aren’t even curious about it. There are some good ones out there. I have had some of my patients who have seen good endocrinologists, but they are few and far between unfortunately. I hope that begins to change. There is a lot of information out there. There is a lot of people waking up to understanding that there are more ways to heal than just the mainstream.
Dr. Eric:
Let’s dive into those common oversights when it comes to thyroid healing. I’d like to start with iodine. There is a lot of controversy with iodine and thyroid health. Some people say to take really high amounts of iodine. Other people say you don’t want to take any iodine when you’re dealing with hyperthyroidism or Hashimoto’s. What is your perspective on iodine in both hyperthyroidism and Hashimoto’s?
Bronte:
It’s very important in both of them. There is a time and way to introduce it. Obviously, there is more caution when the person is hyperactive or has Graves’.
In both cases, I’m always looking at the antibodies, making sure we can get the antibodies down to a more reasonable amount before we start to introduce iodine. Introducing it slowly, particularly for those Graves’ patients. Introducing it alongside selenium as well. There is a delicate balance in the dosage and making sure that you do have enough selenium supplementation alongside the iodine.
It’s definitely important for both. I think the other misconception around iodine is it is only for your thyroid health. This is not true. It’s really important for immune function. It’s important for breast health. It’s important for detoxifying estrogen as well. It’s not just thyroid health. For some people who have had a thyroidectomy, they don’t think they need iodine, but you still do.
There is a lot of misconception around iodine. That is definitely one thing to be working with someone who knows what they’re doing and knows how to introduce it into your supplementation and when to do it.
Keeping an eye on it. Even though some people are really depleted in iodine, they may have Graves’, and it’s not the right time for them to introduce it. They can get a flare. Same with Hashimoto’s as well. Sometimes, it can elevate antibodies temporarily. People start to freak out about that. I think the best advice is to be working with someone who knows what they’re doing around how and when to introduce iodine.
Dr. Eric:
Do you recommend iodine testing?
Bronte:
Yeah, the urine testing. Is that what you do as well?
Dr. Eric:
When I do iodine testing, yeah, I find urine testing to be more accurate than blood testing. There is the patch test, which when most people do, it will disappear relatively quickly. I was guilty of recommending that years ago. If I recommend iodine testing, urine is the way to go.
Bronte:
Yeah. There is also testing for bromine. There is a lab out here. I’m sure you probably have labs over there that test it as well. Because it’s a halide, we want to make sure we are also looking at the bromine levels. Our halides, like fluoride and bromine, can affect the body’s ability to uptake the iodine. Even though some people may, on a urinary iodine test, be presenting with enough iodine, they are not actually getting it because of the halides they are exposed to through bromine or fluoride, if they are drinking fluorinated water.
Dr. Eric:
I imagine you’re recommending to avoid water with fluorine, toothpaste with fluoride, and minimize other halides, like bromine or chlorine. Install a shower filter?
Bronte:
Yeah, we can’t do everything at once. Detoxing your lifestyle is a rabbit hole in itself. Same as trying to navigate your thyroid autoimmune journey can be a rabbit hole. This is why it’s really helpful to work with someone who can help you take it step by step. That is very important.
If you are going to invest money into your health, I would highly recommend at least starting with a water filter and getting rid of your fluoride toothpaste. Very important for thyroid health.
Dr. Eric:
What are some other common oversights when it comes to thyroid healing?
Bronte:
Other common things that I often hear is people saying, “I tried the AIP diet or the paleo diet or another diet,” but often people are not trying it for long enough. You really need to be giving something a go for three months or three menstrual cycles to really understand if it’s going to be helping you or not.
Yes, if you have major adverse reactions to something, like straight up, that may not be right for you. Just because you are following an elimination diet, it also doesn’t mean that all of the yes foods on the list are going to be right for you as an individual. It’s important to listen to your body, but it’s important to give it that time and the consistency. I feel that people probably only gave it 70% commitment. It’s really important there is a high level of commitment, being really consistent and giving it the time frame.
Dr. Eric:
I agree. Following a healthy diet, like you said, AIP or paleo for 30 days is obviously better than not following it at all. Still, I agree. It’s best to try to do it for at least three months. Sometimes it is a mental game, where you have to tell yourself you will start out with 30 days. Inside, knowing that after that, you hopefully will continue with that. Definitely agree with that.
Do you recommend for most of your clients an elimination diet? Do you recommend food sensitivity testing? A combination of both?
Bronte:
It depends on the patient who is sitting in front of me as to their personality type. It would depend on what sort of elimination diet. The AIP diet is extremely restrictive. For some people, it’s very stressful to do that. That is counterproductive in itself because it’s causing too much stress for them. I am a bit more flexible for some patients, so I am doing a more paleo-style diet.
I also do testing. I have a hair test I do. It’s a biocompatibility test. It tests for over 600 items. It gives you an exact list of yes and no foods for you as an individual. Some patients choose that option, so they have an exact list to go by.
It’s coaching them around how to effectively create healthy meals. How to eat to optimize your digestion and get your nutrients from your food.
Dr. Eric:
We both agree three months sometimes longer. Let’s say three months go by, and someone is following a paleo diet, and they are not really experiencing any improvement in the symptoms. Maybe even the blood tests haven’t improved. What would be the next step for that person?
Bronte:
For that person, I’d be looking at other things, like underlying infections, toxin exposure, looking at their stress levels, looking at their sleep. Also, really going deeper into how they are as a person. How are they managing stress? How do they think? How is their relationship with themselves? Going even deeper than that. Looking into trauma history as well.
I believe that the root cause of any disharmony—is what I call instead of illness or disease. Any form of disharmony really is in the emotional body. How we have responded to things that we have encountered in life. There is a bit of a list there.
I have a story of a patient who was doing all of the things. She was so consistent, so compliant, so committed. She still had symptoms that weren’t correcting with her digestion. I needed to investigate further, and we did a gut test for her. She came up with four infections in her digestive tract.
It does pay to do further testing as well. If you find that your symptoms aren’t correcting, there are so many other aspects we need to be looking at. Gut health is a big part of it. Like I said, looking at mindset and the emotional components as well. We’re a whole person. We’re not just this physical body; we do need to look at all the physical aspects. I do believe we need to go beyond the physical aspects as well.
Dr. Eric:
You would agree that diet is important, but it’s usually just a piece of the puzzle. Changing your diet alone usually is not going to completely help someone with hyperthyroidism or Hashimoto’s reverse their condition.
Bronte:
No. Some people might be really lucky, but it just won’t be what you ate that caused your thyroid imbalance or thyroid autoimmunity. It’s an accumulation of many components over time. Our health is accumulative.
While you may very likely reduce your symptoms by just changing your diet, as that was my story. That’s all I did, and I didn’t have anyone guiding me through the other aspects, the initial stages of my own healing journey. Yes, I got my antibodies down, and they also went back up when I got stressed. I realized stress is a big part of it.
Through my journey, I realized there is so much more to this that I needed to dive deeper into: looking at my gut health further, looking at underlying infections, going deeper again. I found out early on about the mindset stuff.
I had a breakdown in the supermarket because I was- You know when you have Graves’, you are always hungry. You constantly eat 24/7, but you are never satiated. That was me. I was wanting to eat, eat, eat, losing weight. I was at work and hadn’t taken enough food to work. I went over to the supermarket to try to get some food. There is nothing there I wanted to eat. This was so frustrating. This was so hard.
When I went home that night, I was like, “Okay, I can’t have this perspective on my healing journey. I can’t keep telling myself this is hard. I need to be focused on what it is of the direction I am moving in, and what is my goal? What am I moving away from? What don’t I want? What do I want?” I needed to get clear on that. I started working more on mindset.
Fast forward again, I realized that I needed to look into traumas and life events that have happened that have caused imbalance in my system, in my energetic system and emotional system. That was contributing to an imbalance in my physical system. There is a lot of different components to look past.
My advice is to take a step. You don’t need to do all the things at once. In fact, I wouldn’t even recommend all the things at once. It’s overwhelming. The physical body is a good place to start. You will start to get symptom relief and feel better. You feel like you have more space and capacity to start to look at other areas. Maybe your next step is looking at detoxifying your lifestyle, living a more low-tox lifestyle. Then you might move into mindset, which you should do near the beginning. That’s what I do with my patients. If you don’t have someone guiding you, you decide what you introduce when because you’re the pilot of your own flight. But I would look at mindset.
Then when you have more understanding of how you operate, then you have more confidence and hopefully tools to be able to unpack what is in the emotional body.
Dr. Eric:
Start with the physical changes: diet, mindset. Then maybe later on, incorporate more emotional healing?
Bronte:
Yeah. I think that’s the best way. If you start to unpack some emotional healing in the beginning when you are feeling really crappy because you have an overactive or underactive thyroid, so you could be anxious or depressed, it’s not the right time to be looking at all the emotional stuff. I feel like it’s better to get your thyroid in balance first. Start to reduce your symptoms. You will start to feel a bit more like yourself, so you have more capacity and energy to be able to start to look at the emotional components.
For some people, there is a lot there. A lot of my patients have very big stories, and there is quite a bit to unpack. There is quite a bit of trauma.
Dr. Eric:
You mentioned the example where you did a stool test, you found the four gut infections. Is that dependent on the person, like the person’s case history? When should they consider doing a stool test to look at gut infections, for example?
Bronte:
It’s dependent on the symptoms that you’re presenting with as well. Some people may have really extensive digestive issues, so you might want to be testing much earlier on. For a lot of my patients, I don’t need to do stool testing because the process that I take them through to heal their gut works.
For this particular patient, it wasn’t correcting. It’s not that she wasn’t compliant in what we were doing; she was extremely compliant, very committed, and that’s why I was baffled. Why is this one not correcting? We need to look further.
If you are doing all of the things, and the symptoms are not correcting, then look further. Or if you’re feeling really horrible, like you have a lot of digestive issues, like bloating, food intolerances, chronic constipation, or loose bowels multiple times a day (3+ times), which is consistent every day, you might want to be looking into doing a gut test to see what’s happening there. That is certainly not normal to have so many digestive issues.
For some people, if they’ve had digestive issues for such a long time, that becomes their normal. But it’s not normal. I’ve worked with people who have had a bowel movement 3-4 times a week their whole life, so they figured that was normal. Same with people who experience PMS. They think that’s normal, and it’s not. It’s common, but it’s not normal. We want to have a bowel movement every day, 1-2 times a day. You don’t want to be having PMS symptoms either. When your body is in balance, you will be having regular bowel movements, and you won’t know when your period is coming, as you generally won’t have too many symptoms.
Dr. Eric:
Any other common oversights that you didn’t cover?
Bronte:
I think we covered it all. We talked about giving it enough time, being consistent, being compliant, the iodine piece, further investigation, getting further testing. We talked about the mental and emotional aspects as well.
Dr. Eric:
When it comes to patient compliance, as far as the timetable for people to heal, as it does take a commitment. Some people have unrealistic expectations and might think that within two months, especially if they have Graves’ or Hashimoto’s, probably takes quite a bit longer, maybe not to start feeling better, but to reach the point of remission.
What do you find in your practice with your clients as far as on average? Everybody is different. How long does it usually take for someone with Graves’ or Hashimoto’s to get to the point where they are fully healed?
Bronte:
Like you said, the timeline is very case by case. I do a 12-week program. Some people may think they are going to do that program, and then they’re good. That’s not the case. That’s why we say you need three months. That’s where you have to give commitment to heal the gut and reduce inflammation. But that is only the beginning.
What you do after that is so important as well. Your lifestyle needs to change. What you did before you started on your healing journey, all of the different things that you were doing that contributed to you having this imbalance in your body, having a thyroid condition. You can’t go back to those habits. It’s about learning to change your lifestyle and habits and identity around who you are and how you view your health.
The time frame, I would say for most people, is at least a year. For many people, it’s a couple of years. I’ve had the odd patient who got into remission in three months, but I rarely see that happen. She was lucky. I shouldn’t use the word “lucky” because I was upset when my endo said that to me. She was very committed, but she also didn’t have a lot of other things to be dealing with. She had already low-toxed her life. Her body just corrected quickly.
You need to give it at least 12 months of reasonably high commitment. I feel like the first three months needs to be the highest commitment you can give yourself. Then you can start to be a little more flexible and start to introduce some foods back in. Consistency is key.
Even now, me, years later, over Christmas, it’s not like I am going weeks and weeks of drinking alcohol every day and having sugar every day or eating gluten or dairy. It’s not part of how I am. I have completely changed the way that I view health. My identity doesn’t identify with that.
We were talking about this with a client yesterday. When you drive past McDonald’s or KFC or any sort of fast-food joint, I do not even associate that with food. Not even one percent of me would consider going in there, or eating a pizza with gluten and cheese. To me, that’s not food. You guys don’t’ have Tim-Tams over there. I wouldn’t eat packaged biscuits. If you go to your aunt or granny’s house, and they have biscuits there, I have no desire to eat it. I completely changed my identity around how I view food and how I view what I do with my body. I see my body as my temple. A bit of a tangent there with that answer.
It’s an ongoing thing to heal. For you to reach remission, I can’t give a time frame. I would say for the average person, it would be at least 12 months. Then to stay in remission is that consistency and commitment and devotion to your temple, to your body. It really is a personality and a lifestyle shift to be healthy. It’s not just I do it for a snapshot in time.
Dr. Eric:
I agree. I’d say the average is 12 months. Everybody is different, so some people might take longer than that, or a little bit less than that. Three months, that’s rare, unusual, like you said. It sounds like maintaining a state of wellness overall, still eating a pretty healthy diet, living a healthy lifestyle, which I do as well although I admit I can’t deny that I sometimes have cauliflower crust pizza. I can’t say I’m completely pizza-free.
Bronte:
No, I do have different types of pizza. I wouldn’t sit down to a regular pizza with heaps of cheese and a normal gluten base.
Dr. Eric:
You do indulge every now and then with different foods.
Bronte:
Yeah. It was my birthday just last Friday, and I had sparkling red. I drink alcohol, but I don’t do it every week. I don’t even do it every month.
You get to decide what is your level of commitment, so you can still have balance in your life. If you come from a European background, say, family and food is a big part of who you are. So much of that culture is around food and getting together with family. You might choose how you’re going to navigate that. You don’t want to completely not have those foods.
You decide what is the right balance for you. What is your level of commitment? Is 70/30 where your balance sits for you once you have passed the main part of your healing, once you get past 6-12 months? You get to decide what your level of commitment is.
I’m about a 90/10. That doesn’t stress me out. My devotion to my wellness is my joy. I get a lot of joy out of being really healthy and looking after myself. For some people, it’s not like that.
What I would say to those people is have a look at your identity. What is underneath all of that? Why do you think that way? It’s not that it’s right or wrong. It’s interesting to look at how we identify with health, how we identify with food.
There is a big emotional component to it. So many people have an emotional attachment to food. That’s ingrained in us from childhood. You go to a birthday party, and you’re celebrating the birth of this person. Look at the food on the table. None of it is food. When we celebrate, we are putting poisons into our body. If you do really well at school, your folks are like, “Let’s go celebrate. We’ll go to Pizza Hut.” Those are toxins, right?
When you’re an adult and have had a tough week at work, “I deserve to have a pizza or ice cream and a bottle of wine because it was a shit week.” You’re just punishing yourself even more by doing that. We all have these patterns until we become aware of them. It’s like becoming aware of what is driving that? If I have had a really crappy week, my default might be, “I am going to crack a beer open or pour a glass of wine. Really, what do I need?”
So many people are afraid of connecting with their feelings. Can I actually sit with the feelings that are present? Can I actually make space for them to be felt, to be witnessed, instead of being pushed down and ignored? What do I actually need? Do I just need to have a good cry? Do I need to move my body? Do I need to ask someone for a hug? Do I need to reach out to a friend because I need someone to hold space for me and have a chat?
Understanding what it is that I need, and meeting those needs with something that is not food. There is a lot to unpack when it comes to changing your lifestyle and resetting your identity of yourself, especially when it comes to wellness. How we respond to life really does have an influence over our physical body.
Dr. Eric:
I agree with all of that. I want to go in a different direction now. Maybe I should have brought this up in the beginning because this is more about staying safe while restoring your health. I think it’s important to chat about this because obviously, your background, you help people get into remission, restore their health.
But when you dealt with Graves’, you did take carbimazole. A lot of my patients take antithyroid medication; it all comes down to risk versus benefit. Some people don’t want anything to do with medication. Same thing with Hashimoto’s. Some people should be on thyroid hormone replacement but don’t want to be on it.
When I dealt with Graves’, I was able to avoid antithyroid medication, but not everybody can do that. I do work with people in the US who are on methimazole. Carbimazole converts to methimazole.
Was there any hesitation at first when you took the carbimazole? Did you weigh those risks and benefits? “I don’t want to take the medication, but I know that it’s risky not to manage the symptoms.” Knowing that you are also going to try to address the cause of the problem, which you successfully did at the same time.
Bronte:
This is a part of my story I haven’t openly shared too much about. I do with my patients, but I don’t think I have on a podcast.
When I was initially diagnosed with hyperthyroidism, I was pretty unwell. When I had that relapse three years later and was diagnosed with Graves’, I was actually suicidal. I thought because before my initial diagnosis of hyperthyroidism, I had depression and anxiety, and I was on antidepressants, which I didn’t want to do, but I had quite a lot of stories and trauma to unpack from my childhood. I went and saw a naturopath, and we did a six-month detox before I went on antidepressants. It helped, but it wasn’t enough. I needed the antidepressants.
When I was coming off those is when I got diagnosed with hyperthyroidism. I was a bit scared that it was me going off antidepressants. I will get to the answer of your question.
I did go on the carbimazole because I had a lot of symptoms. My eyesight was weird. I had heart palpitations. When I had the relapse, I was very mentally unstable. I thought my depression had come back because I was off antidepressants at that point. I was seriously thinking to end my life. I planned how I was going to do it. I went to see the doctor.
I couldn’t walk up a couple of stairs without losing my breath. I would go to the gym, and my heart rate would go up to 190 within 60 seconds. “This is not normal. Maybe I have a heart condition.”
When they diagnosed me, the doctor said, “All of what you’re experiencing, you don’t have depression or anxiety. This is a thyroid condition, so it’s physiological and not psychological. Don’t worry, you will start to feel better quite quickly.” The antithyroid medication worked pretty quickly. I started to feel so much better within less than a week of being on the medication.
If you don’t want to go on the medication, that’s your choice. It’s your body, and it is your choice. Listen to what it is that your body actually needs. If you’re like me and very mentally and emotionally unstable, it might be a really good idea that you do go on the medication, even it is for a short term, because you can get off it. If you get your thyroid removed, you will need to have medication. If you have really bad heart palpitations, that can be a risk.
It is important to go on the medication to be able to support your body to come back into balance while you are also working on all of the other root causes, helping to support your body to heal holistically. That will support you to get off the medication, but the medication in the meantime will help you feel some kind of balance.
That is my advice to any patients who come to me. How are you feeling? I’ve had a patient who came to me with T4 so high. I think she was 80-something. How are you sitting here normal, not losing your mind? Mine wasn’t that high, and I really wasn’t coping. I was crying every day. My coordination was off. I did a chef apprenticeship. I remember before I was diagnosed at my relapse point, I couldn’t coordinate in the kitchen. I was cutting myself all the time. I was off. I had a rash all up my stomach and my chest. I wasn’t sleeping. I was sweating in the middle of the night in the middle of winter.
This lady who had T4 over 80, she seemed so normal. I didn’t get it. She was someone who didn’t want to go on thyroid medication. I supported her with that decision, and we got her thyroid back into range.
If it’s something that you don’t want to do, then do seek to work with someone that is going to help your body heal holistically. Also, consider that maybe it is something you just go on short-term. You can get off it with the right support and putting the right steps in place.
Listen to your own intuition. Your body doesn’t lie. If you have such a strong aversion to doing something or not doing something, you have to listen to your own internal guidance system. The practitioners you work with will discuss the risks with you. Ultimately, at the end of the day, it is your decision.
Dr. Eric:
That is true. The truth is that not everybody can manage your symptoms naturally. Even when I dealt with Graves’, I was open to taking the medication. I just made that decision initially not to do it, but it’s not like I completely ruled it out.
If people are already taking antithyroid medication, whether it’s carbimazole for those who are in Australia or the UK, or methimazole for those in the US, there is a risk to switch to the natural agents because they don’t always work. Things like bugleweed or high doses of L-carnitine can be effective, but the medication is more potent.
The challenge with antithyroid medication is it can cause side effects. Obviously, if someone is taking antithyroid meds, and their liver enzymes are really elevated, or their white blood cell count is depressed, or they are having other symptoms, and then the medical doctor/endocrinologist is pressuring the person to do radioactive iodine or thyroid surgery, in that case, you want to look at alternatives.
If someone is listening to this, and they are already taking medication and tolerating it well, as long as you are doing things to address the cause of the problem, I agree. You don’t want to get discouraged about taking meds because you are keeping safe while you are addressing the cause of the problem.
Most people don’t do that. They just take meds and pray they will go into remission after a year and a half or two years. Obviously, since they are not doing anything to improve their health, a lot of times, they will relapse.
Bronte:
That is such an important point to speak to. Many people are doing the medication route without doing anything else and wondering why they are not getting better. They go back to their endo or GP and up their medication, but it still doesn’t work.
I am particularly speaking to the Hashimoto’s people. They are taking thyroid hormone. A lot of times, they are on thyroxine, which is the T4 form, and it’s not working. Then their dose gets increased, but it is still not working. The underlying drivers are not being addressed.
For a lot of these people, they are not able to convert T4 to T3, which is why they’re still feeling crappy. Upping their medication is not going to change that. If your body is not able to convert it properly, why? It’s not effectively getting into the cells. Why? We need to look at that. That is not what is being addressed in the mainstream. People are being let down in that regard.
It does really pay to be working with someone who is going to support you to understand how to approach your health from a holistic standpoint. Even if you only just want to do the physical aspects. “I am not looking at the mindset or the emotional.” Some people don’t want to or are not ready to do so.
I would encourage you to look at the physical aspects and support the body holistically, so all of the systems within your body are working as best as they can be, that you are supporting those processes, so you can be converting your medication effectively, and you can get the energy you deserve to be having and reduce those symptoms.
The hair loss aspect. You just taking thyroxine is not going to help your hair grow back. I’m sorry. It’s not going to fix that. Even if you are converting it properly, you’re probably still not going to get your hair to grow back effectively because you need other aspects. That is a common symptom with a lot of our thyroid patients, is the hair loss. It’s upsetting for women because we place so much emphasis on our presentation. We don’t want to be balding. I think the holistic approach is so important.
Dr. Eric:
Definitely agree. Is there anything else that you want to cover? Anything I should have asked you that I didn’t ask you? For those who want to know where to get started, you mentioned the physical aspects before getting into emotional healing.
Bronte:
Another important piece is to learn to advocate for yourself. I find a lot of patients, when they are going to see their endocrinologist or GP, and they get shut down, they are not feeling heard or seen or understood, or they’re told things like, “Oh no, we don’t need to test your antibodies because once they’re high, they’re always going to be high.” “I don’t test for iodine because I don’t know how to interpret the lab results.” I hear that a lot from patients’ doctors. Being shut down in their experience.
It’s learning to advocate for yourself. How you feel matters. What’s happening with you matters. Your voice matters when it comes to your health. If you’re not getting the support that you know that you want and need, and you actually deserve to get, I encourage you to find somebody else. Find another doctor to work with. Learn to advocate for yourself. That is even with your holistic practitioners. There are holistic practitioners out there who aren’t fully supportive either, who do shut down patients’ experiences.
Listening to your own internal guidance. No matter what. Doesn’t matter who you are working with. You need to listen to what a yes or a no or a not yet for you is when it comes to your healing journey. Really listen to your internal guidance as to where to next and who to work with next.
Just because you are working with one practitioner doesn’t mean that they need to be your practitioner forever. They might get you through this door or that door, but they might not have the key for the next door, so you might go need to work with someone else. Listen to that as well.
Dr. Eric:
Well said. Bronte, where can people find out more about you?
Bronte:
I hang out mostly on Instagram, @BronteMay.Naturopath. Same for Facebook. My website is Bronte-May.com.
Dr. Eric:
Wonderful. Thank you so much. You shared a lot of great information. It was amazing having this conversation. Keep up the good work, helping others with thyroid and autoimmune thyroid conditions.
Bronte:
Thank you so much for the opportunity to be here and share this info with your audience as well.
Leave a Reply